The Los Angeles Lakers fought back, but it wasn’t enough to stop Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.
Doncic, the league’s leading scorer, finished with 35 points and 14 rebounds with 13 assists as well as 1 steal and 1 block during a double-overtime win. It was another masterful performance for Doncic, a leading candidate to win his first MVP award.
The Lakers used a similar strategy to slow Doncic as they did on Christmas Day, sending constant double teams and trapping him in the pick-and-roll. It worked for a long time, too. Doncic did not score between the 5-minute and 45-second mark in the third quarter until there were six seconds remaining in the game.
After the scoring drought, Doncic hit a 28-foot step-back jump shot:
LUKA DONCIC STEPS BACK TO FORCE OVERTIME ON TNT! pic.twitter.com/3QVewPeIgy
— NBA (@NBA) January 13, 2023
Doncic hit the shot against single coverage by guard Dennis Schroder.
It was a surprising defensive decision from the Lakers, who had trapped him in the pick-and-roll and sent double coverage on Doncic several possessions earlier in the game.
After the game, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said he was “kicking himself in the butt” for not blitzing Doncic before the final shot in regulation.
Darvin Ham said he’s “kicking myself in the butt” because the Lakers didn’t blitz Luka Doncic when he made the 3-pointer to send the game into overtime.
— Melissa Rohlin (@melissarohlin) January 13, 2023
Ham recently told The Athletic’s Tim Cato that “it’s a nightmare” defending Doncic and that his team didn’t have the answers. He added:
“I can’t emphasize enough that people understand how big he is in stature … He puts a lot of pressure on a single defender to contain him without fouling.”
It would have been foolish to foul him during his 3-pointer. Since coming into the league, he is one of the NBA’s leaders in drawing contact on attempts beyond the arc.
But the Lakers, who held a 3-point lead at the time, could have fouled him beforehand to send him to the free-throw line for two shots. Doncic finished with a very poor shooting performance (3-7 FT) from the charity stripe, so that could have been advantageous as well.
Luka Doncic on not being double teamed before his 3 to force OT: "I was a little bit surprised. I dob't know why they didn't. I thought they were going to foul, honestly. But I tried to get it up before they fouled me."
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) January 13, 2023
During a post-game interview, Doncic admitted that he was a “little bit surprised” that the Lakers didn’t send a double team or foul him on this possession.
While the Lakers were able to send the game to a second overtime period, it was the Mavericks who finished victorious.
When it was all said and done, it showed yet another reason why Doncic is one of the league’s biggest superstars in recent memory. There are simply no right answers when it comes to stopping this guy.
